Tag Archives: Cheese

Foodie Friday ~ Inside Picnic…

This hasn’t been a typical week for us and we’ve eaten off our usual track. Last night we decided on a picnic in front of the T.V. Being empty nesters who moved away from their nest to get to an empty one, no relationship was harmed by eating in front of the T.V. Dear and I have plenty face to face meals with lots of meaningful conversations!

 

We had hard cheese, soft cheese, smoked cheese. My favorite was the Stilton with apricots. A fresh small loaf of bread and crackers. Genoa Salami, avocado, grapes and peaches. To drink I made a White Sangria. Here’s the recipe.

3-1/2 cups dry white wine (your typical bottle is just enough)
1/2 cup Cointreau or Triple Sec
1/4 cup sugar
ice cubes
1 10-oz. club soda
1 orange
1 lemon
2 limes

Combine first 3 ingredients and stir till sugar is dissolved. If you are going to serve it right away add the club soda now and the sliced citrus. Fill glass you choose to use with ice and pour the sangria over and enjoy. You could use some of the fruit for garnish if you’d like.  If you plan to make it ahead refrigerate the first 3 ingredients and then add the rest of the ingredients just before your company arrives. (I go ahead and add the citrus ahead of time because I like the added flavor)

Be sure to visit our hostess Gollum at Designs by Gollum on Friday to see more Foodie Posts!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Sweet Cheese Spread for Kulich ~ Seernaya Paska

My Russian heritage affords me some really good Easter eats. Every year we look forward to having our Easter Bread which we call Kulich in Russian and my Mennonite Friends called Paska.

We also make this yummy cheese spread to spread on this Easter Bread!

Seernaya Paska for Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) The X and the B are for Xpucmoc Bockpec (Christ Arose)

paska class 005

 

Seernaya Paska  (Сырная пасха)

Ingredients:

18 – hard boiled eggs /
3 pounds Farmers cheese /a dry curd cheese like a dry cottage cheese can be substituted.
1 pint whipping cream /
3 cubes unsalted butter (12 oz.) /
3 cups sugar /

Press the Farmers cheese through a sieve. (This is the hardest part of the recipe) If you find a very small curd cheese you won’t have to do this to the cheese. I usually use a wooden spoon and press it through a wire strainer a little at a time. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. (You will not be using the whites).

Press the egg yolks through the sieve. Cream the sugar and butter together. Beat in the egg yolks. Beat in the cheese. Add whipping cream and mix well. You will place the mixture into a strainer lined with about 3 layers of cheesecloth. You will need enough cheesecloth to wrap up and over the top of the cheese. Place the cheese mixture into the cheese cloth lined strainer or another container to mold into shape. Bring the ends of the cheese cloth up and tie the ends on top of the cheese in a knot. Place the sieve into a larger bowl suspended with enough room for the cheese to drain without sitting in the drained liquid. Place a plate on top of the cheese an place a heavy rock, brick, or other weight on top of the plate. Refrigerate over night.

I have used different shaped plastic flower pots to drain and mold the cheese into a higher domed result. If you choose to use a flower pot make sure there are enough holes in the bottom of the pot so the liquid can drain well.

This recipe is enough to feed an army. If you don’t have to feed an army here’s a scaled down version :0)

If you just want a normal amount, cut the recipe in thirds. (6 cooked egg yolks, 1-lb. cheese, 2/3 cup whipping cream, 1 cube butter and 1 cup sugar. Enjoy!

Farmers Cheese or Hoop Cheese can be hard to find. There are Russian delis that sell a dry curd cottage type cheese that will work. If you can find a dry cottage cheese at the grocers that will work too.

Here are examples of the Seernaya Paska I have made over the years.